A Quick Random Post

I should have surgery more often -- I'm posting like crazy!!

Check out Jessie O'Neal's Photography Blog link to the left. She just posted some pictures from our session. Most of the pics there I've also put on my blog, but my mom will enjoy the one of her, my dad, and S. An interesting note about my sassy mommy -- this photo shoot was the first time in her ENTIRE LIFE that she'd ever worn a pair of jeans. She looks good, doesn't she?

Ward Conference was great today. I'm sure the 2nd and 3rd hours were terrific but I only heard the first. The theme was Joshua 1:9

Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.

This scripture is my motto for the year. I'd like to be stronger in many ways, but spiritually and emotionally foremost. Courage -- much needed. And to always remember that God is with me always -- how will that change how I act? How I respond to situations with which I'm faced? Will it give me confidence and faith no matter what I do? I have faith that it will.

And regardless of whether or not you believe as I do, this is a good scripture and promise to keep in mind. There is nothing to be afraid of. Most of the limitations we face are there of our own making. It's a good reminder that there are no limitations, nothing to be afraid of, if we have faith.

And now to sleep...

Day 5

I promise that I didn't go to church today with no husband and a big purple cast on my foot to get sympathy and dinner. I really went to church today to be uplifted and give me a spiritual boost for the week. I received sympathy and dinner because I have awesome friends. It may have been easier and more sensible to stay home, but I am not easy ;) and I am definitely not sensible. I've often thought that church is like an addiction. That said, I must be the addict. I need the weekly spirit that I feel at church on Sundays to get me through the Mondays-Saturdays. I need the interaction with the fabulous women at church since I tend to live in an isolated bubble the rest of the week. I need the 2 hours of my kids being taught by fabulous Primary teachers. That's really why I went to church today. I had my amazing, wonderful, incredible friend and neighbor help me with the boys during Sacrament Meeting. And by help I mean that she wrangled them all while I just sat and actually paid attention for once! Then the older two headed up to Primary and I went to drop H off at Nursery. One small problem: He would not be dropped off. This happened last week too. Last week, after 3 Nursery workers tried to calm him down and interest him in toys, they brought him to me in Sunday School where he fell asleep on my lap. Last week I had J bring him home so he could finish his nap in his own bed. This week -- no J. I gave H a choice: go play in the Nursery or go home and nap. He chose to go home and nap. After I let the older ones know that they would be coming home with our neighbor (and stumping up and down the stairs and through the hallways, running into curious, sympathetic people left and right) I put H in the van and drove home. As soon as I got him ready for a nap and he saw the inevitable course of events, he started screaming, "I want to go back to church! Take me back to Nursery!" and went down for a nap not as happily as I'd imagined he would. Oh well. Make a better choice next week, little H.

And so much for getting my spiritual lift. But I did get dinner. One friend wouldn't let me walk away from her without committing to a day and time that she bring me dinner and another just brought one over. With the dinner I cooked tonight, the one my friend brought over, and the one planned for Monday at 5PM, I won't have to cook at all this week! That's probably good, considering my foot is throbbing -- reminding me that yes, it is still there and still less than a week out from surgery.

The reason I didn't really want people asking me about my foot is that it's no big deal. Plus, it's not an exciting story. If only I was kicked in the foot while harnessing a team of wild horses, or if my foot was run over by a semi truck while I was rescuing a small, frightened animal about to be crushed by the semi's wheels, that would be an exciting story. Extraction of extra bones? Just confirms that I'm a freak. I'm still not sure I want to post pictures of my feet -- people may really think I am a hobbit and send me off on dangerous impossible quests. (That's ok if I get to go with Viggo Mortensen.)

Anyway, here's the official update for my mom:
No pain pills since Friday. The antibiotic and anti-inflammatory haven't made me sick. I can feel that I've been on my feet too much today, but nothing a night of ice and elevation won't fix. I don't have to make dinner this week. The doctor was right about me wanting to kick the cast off already. I feel a strange absence of discomfort on my accessory navicular bone, simply because it's not there anymore. (For those of you who wonder why I update for my mom on the blog as opposed to the phone: It's quieter this way. Anyone who talks to me on the phone during the day knows that you hear me and the boys.)

Day 4

Today was fine pain-wise. I slept pretty well last night and woke feeling good. I rested a bit in the morning and then we took the kids out to lunch. J is off to Idaho for a week starting tomorrow, so we hit the grocery store for some supplies to get me through the week. Before lunch I wasn't feeling so hot, and at lunch nothing tasted right, so I took a much-needed nap when we came home. My foot feels ok. I can feel some mild discomfort when I walk (still with one crutch), but it's not too bad. I am really slow, but that's ok too. I'm just worried about my stomach. What's making me feel so crummy? Is it the pills I'm on? I thought it was the Lortab, but I'm not taking any of those anymore. Can the antibiotic and anti-inflammatory really do this to me? And the big question: Am I going to survive this next week without J? I guess we'll find out...

More from the Surgery Virgin

Today was a good day pain-wise. I only had 1/2 a Lortab this morning and haven't taken a pain killer since. I've walked around a bit with one crutch and experimented with putting more weight on my left foot. I should've spent the day reading my scriptures or Hamlet so my brain wouldn't fall out of my ears and turn to mush, but I didn't. What did I do between naps today? I watched "Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe" on Netflix. Yeah.

Old Friends

The first Saturday in January we headed up to Hyrum to attend the baptism of my friend Louise's second daughter. We were up about 1 1/2 years ago for her first daughter's baptism and decided that it was a good tradition to keep up.

Louise and I were roommates at BYU the year before we both got married. She is an amazing lady! She has a degree in Music Education, but is the Special Ed teacher at her daughters' charter school and is working on her Master's in Special Ed (I think. Is that right, Weaz?) Her husband Cordell is a police officer for Logan City and is my resource for the future when we get a dog.

When we pulled up to their house after the baptismal festivities were complete, O was scared that the police car belonged to someone who was going to arrest him. (Secret life of crime, O?) I spoke thusly to Cordell, "O is afraid of the police officer here. Will you reassure him that he is not a threat and there's nothing to be scared of?" Cordell replied, somewhat distractedly, "Uh huh," as he packed a handful of snow into a snowball to throw at a random dog running down the street. Thanks, Officer Hoth. Thanks a lot!


Me and Louise. We pretty much look the same as we did 12 years ago when we lived in that tiny apartment on University Ave. Good times.

Now she's out of kids to have baptized, but I've three coming up -- one this year. With the triathlon she's doing in American Fork and the Ragnar (which goes right through Hyrum) that I'm planning on doing again this year, we'll see each other again soon, I'm sure of it.

Happy Birthday, MaKayla!

On the first day of the New Year, we went sledding for our niece MaKayla's birthday.












The second we arrived at the park, O was off on the first hill he could find, grass and all!
















S was the only one brave enough to go down on the saucer. He caught some awesome air at the bottom again and again and again!











H and I made it down a couple of times, but he didn't like me braking with my feet -- it sprayed snow in our faces. I love his little half-excited, half-terrified smile in this picture!










J and O getting ready to race!













How're you doing, Good Lookin'?

















After we were all sledded out, we went to Pirate Island.












Aaarrrgh!

The Last Week of December

J had the last week of December off. During that week he helped O put together the model helicopter from Santa.

























He and S worked on the model airplane that S got from Santa.




























And H put his head on backwards: